There are many Bradford City supporters vehemently defending Stefan Rupp and seem to be under the impression that he is putting money into the playing budget. They will accuse me of jumping to conclusions prematurely about low budget signings whilst they simultaneously claim Rupp is backing Hughes, when it is definitely too early to know if he is. This is because we haven’t even spent the money that is left over from the wage budget made available from players that have been released. In simple terms, the only time Rupp needs to put money in to the playing budget is when the £2.7million a-year first team budget has been spent, and as it stands, we are still some way off that.
However what I estimate to be left leaves us with only enough space in the budget for three or four competitive signings if our key out-of-contract players don’t re-sign for us.
Before I come in for another ritualistic slaughtering from fans about not giving players a chance, I’d just like to point out that just because our signing have been a bit Poundland in terms of how they’ll fit into our wage bill, I am not saying they are shit footballers, and there’s no correlation between how much they get paid and how good they will turn out to be. In addition, I definitely want them to turn out to be great servants to the club. So I am giving them a chance, however, that doesn’t extend to me giving Stefan Rupp any more chances until HE can prove me wrong.
The facts are available to read on the Bradford City Official website, it’s no secret that we are having to rely on the fans and business activities lead by Ryan Sparks to make up our playing budget, and this is normal for a football club, so that’s not where I have an issue. However to accept this and somehow come to the conclusion that Stefan Rupp is backing Mark Hughes in the transfer market makes no sense whatsoever, the two things are completely opposites.
The fact of the matter is we still have a lot of overpaid dead wood that are preventing us from properly using our “competitive budget”. This is largely down to sacking managers every six months or so. To get round this the budget really does require a boost from Stefan Rupp personally and contrary to the belief of WOAP, it wouldn’t need to be put in every year if Mark Hughes uses the extra money wisely as you’d expect. Rupp would get his money back the following season by reducing the budget to what it was once the players who are still under contract, that Hughes doesn’t consider ideal for his plans, are released the following summer. If this happened it would actually be an indisputable example that Rupp has backed Hughes, so far, there’s no sign that this is happening.
If you want to give anyone credit for Bradford City having a “competative budget” pat yourselves on the back for buying a season ticket, or you could even give credit to Ryan Sparks because by the number of complaints about the volume of announcements about new commercial deals being struck, its is safe to say Sparks is doing what he is supposed to be doing on the business side of things.
The transfer dealings at this early stage do reveal an interesting pattern. With the exception of Jamie Walker, who was reported to be on less money at Hearts than Callum Cooke was at Bradford City, you could say that Walker is his direct replacement financially. The rest of the players we’ve signed will be at the lower end of our wage bill. The good news is we still have space in our budget for three or four marquee signings. That should get fans excited about the new season, especially if we lose Charles Vernam, Paudie O’Connor and Elliot Watt.
Having said that, I did raise an eyebrow when our latest recruit Ryan East was described in the Telegraph & Argus as a possible replacement for Watt because based on his struggle to hold down a place in the starting eleven at Swindon Town, the signing of East isn’t really one that can be satisfactorily described as a direct replacement. He could be one for the future, he could be back-up to the first team, but a replacement for Watt is really pushing things.
Neither can Matty Platt be described as a replacement for Paudie O’Connor. Once again, I’m not saying that he can’t be a great player for the club, but a signing from Barrow, a team that finished in 22nd place in the football league doesn’t fill me with confidence that he is what most fans have in mind when you think of players to replace someone like Paudie. So far that is two signings most Bradford City fans would probably, given the choice prefer to stick with what we’ve got if given the choice. Naturally we don’t have the luxury of being able to choose. This doesn’t mean they are bad signings, but it does make me question our budget if this type of player, the latter even by Barrow standards was at the low end of their wage budget, should indeed turn out to be replacements rather than backup.
The same can be said for Jake Young from Forest Green Rovers. He looks to have plenty of potential. But a team that is expecting to compete for promotion and has a competitive budget, should be looking at a player that has a track record, it is not unreasonable to expect us to be able to tempt Dom Telford not to re-sign with Newport County and join Bradford City instead. If Young is the big summer signing up front, is that what you really had in mind when you thought about Mark Hughes building a side that would get us promoted?
Yes it is early days and this is by no means a final judgement. Maybe our new goalkeeper Harry Lewis is the one good bit of business we can look to so far. He looks to be a solid early signing who could prove to be a player with a decent sell-on value in the future.
It will be very interesting to see who else arrives at Valley Parade in the summer transfer window.